Lunch at the mall

Up, Up, Up, Down, Down, Down

Whenever we're on the freeway, or any slightly hilly road. Nate has to declare whether we are headed up a hill, or down a hill. It's very cute and shows his current interest in learning same/opposite and directionality...a little annoying after the 50th hill, though :).

Ellie's 2nd Tooth

In a one, two punch, the second tooth emerges.  Bottom, right this time.

Babydoll

Ellie has now been mistaken for a babydoll, from far away, a handful of times.  One time, I ran into the store and left the kids with Grandma in the car.  Ellie was getting fussy, so Grandma got Ellie out of her seat and was sitting in the back of the van playing with her.  A woman quizzically walked over and told my mom that she thought she was playing with a life size doll.  Now, is it more logical to see a Grandma playing with a life size doll, or a baby?  And if she was playing with a doll, would you get that close to her?  I guess it just goes to show how perfectly beautiful my sweet, baby girl is.

Ellie's 1st Tooth

Here comes that 1st little tooth poking through.  Bottom, left it is!

Sleeps unswaddled

Ok...I really thought that I might just have to show Ellie's college roommate how to swaddle her before she went to bed...but, we did it!  Ellie, at almost 6 months old, is now sleeping unswaddled.  A good, tight swaddle is one of my secrets to good sleeping babies and all my kids liked to be swaddled, but Ellie was taking it a little too far.  She just couldn't give it up and we were running out of blankets that are big enough to contain her.

Happy 5th Birthday Wesley!

April Fools

I began today by teaching the boys about April Fools Day. My mom was famous for waking us up really early with some outrageous claim of snow fall or a hot air balloon landing in our back yard.  It was often too early to think logically and by the time we were peering out the back door, we knew we'd been had.  Wes and Nate are little enough still that they will believe just about anything and quickly fell for my stories.  Soon enough they caught on to the fun of this day and started making up stories of their own.  All day Wes was yelling things like, "Watch out Mommy, there's a dinosaur/monster/giant baby, behind you!" and would exclaim, "April Fools!" when I acted scared.  Nate followed right along and would exclaim just what he had heard his brother yell moments before.  My favorite of the day was, "Look out Mommy, there's an army of dancing koala bears coming!".  I didn't know if I should be scared or get up and dance along.

Idea!

If you ask Nate a question these days, before he answers he'll raise one finger and exclaim, "Idea!". Cute, cute boy!

Pumping!

We went to the park today and Wes surprised me by pumping his legs and swinging all by himself!  Such a big boy!

Uncle Mike!

Uncle Mike came for a visit, and to meet Ellie for the first time.  I thought it would be a good idea to get a picture of all the cousins with Uncle Mike.  Result...hilarious.  We think next time he visits we're going to talk him into babysitting...all of them.



Wesley's 5th Birthday Paaarrrrrty

Wes requested a pirate theme for his 5th birthday party.

Ok...requested is a bit of an understatement.  Wesley, PLANNED his 5th birthday pirate party.

He had quite a few ideas, which included him dressing up in costume, me making a pirate ship cake, kids going on a treasure hunt (he even drew a map), a pinata, and Grandma "sewing a costume" for his play structure to make it into a pirate ship.

I tried to make most of his hopes and plans come true, but I had to draw the line when I saw my mom out at the play structure with plans and a tape measure.  We settled on using our imaginations to make the play structure into a pirate ship...with the help of a pirate flag.

The kids did get to walk the plank...

...as part of an obstacle course centered around the "pirate ship".

All his best buds were there.

There was indeed a treasure hunt where the kids had to hunt for pieces to a map and put it together like a puzzle.

The map led them to the front yard, where there was...

TREASURE, of course!

A treasure chest pinata.

To break open with a sword,

...and loot the booty inside.

Pirate Wes with the requested pirate ship cake.

Ellie the party pooper.

Captain Wesley's loyal shipmates look on as opens the REAL treasure chest of the day.  I hope your party was all that you hoped for Wesley!

Party Dress

Ellie had to get all dressed up to go to Cousin Sarah's baby shower.  Isn't she just pretty in pink!

Princess Leia Where Are You?

When I was pregnant with Wesley, we didn't find out until he was born if he was a boy or a girl.  We were on vacation and shopping, when we saw the cutest Star Wars onsies and knew we had to have one for our baby...but we didn't know if we should get the boy or the girl one.  So, we got both.  We got a gray and green, Yoda onsie and a white and pink, Princess Leia onsie.  Both boys have gotten a lot of use out of the Yoda onsie, but the Princess Leia onsie kept getting shoved back in the box of baby clothes, hoping one day to have a baby to go in it.  Well, 6 years later, here she is...little Miss Princess Leia onsie.

Sits up!

Such a big girl!  Ellie is now sitting up on her own!  It may be a tripod assisted sit, but it's still a sit!

1st Swim Lesson

We've been out of the pool all winter, so it's time to get everyone ready for the swim season.  It's the boy's first lesson back after a long break, but it's Ellie's first lesson ever!  Wes and Ellie go first, while Grandma watches Nate play, then I get in the pool with Nate while Wes plays and Ellie usually falls asleep.  Everyone needs a good nap after swim practice, me and Grandma included!  All the kids are doing great, and check out the cute little girl swim suit!  I just couldn't wait any longer to get her in a swim suit.

Holding Court

She doesn't have to do much...and her brother's are mesmerized.

Tri For The Cure 2011

I did it!  I completed another triathlon with the help of my fan club.

Kerry and I did this one together.

My goal was to have a faster time 5 months post baby, then I did at 4 months pregnant...and I did.

My overall time was 1:05:51, 11th place (out of 51) for my category.  Swim time 9:51 (6th place), bike time 34:23 (13th place), and run time 21:38 (22nd place).

My bike time was definitely improved by my new awesome bike.  I didn't feel like I was pedaling a tricycle while the rest of the cyclists zoomed by me.

My next goal is to really improve my running.  I just hate it so much.  There are so many people who love it, I have to find just a tiny bit of that person in me somewhere.